


Veretian Roses

by vaskianmountains



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Auguste (Captive Prince) Lives, Courting Rituals, Courtship, Laurent courts Damen, M/M, No Regent, No war, Smaurent, Teenage Damen, Time Skips, Time Skips to Canon Ages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 08:44:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20255356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaskianmountains/pseuds/vaskianmountains
Summary: When ten year old Laurent sends Damen a bouquet of roses during his first diplomatic visit to Vere, Damen doesn't know what it implies according to Veretian courtship rituals.However, when he receives a second bouquet of roses from Laurent years later, he does.





	Veretian Roses

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a set of 4 drabbles on my tumblr [vaskianmountains](https://vaskianmountains.tumblr.com/) ([part 1](https://vaskianmountains.tumblr.com/post/186895056059/auguste-smaurent-ficlet-set-during-teenage), [part 2](https://vaskianmountains.tumblr.com/post/186917818934/sequel-to-this-auguste-confronts-damen), [part 3](https://vaskianmountains.tumblr.com/post/186939599034/laurent-courts-damen-part-3-tens-years-later-and), [part 4](https://vaskianmountains.tumblr.com/post/186966153304/laurent-courts-damen-part-4-epilogue-auguste))

“How did this happen, Laurent?” Auguste asked when Laurent presented him the cut on his finger.

“I was picking roses in Mother’s garden for Damen, and I cut my finger on one of the thorns,” Laurent explained.

“Why were you picking roses for Prince Damianos?”

“Because if I’m going to marry him, I will have to court him first,” Laurent explained.

Auguste had not expected that; Laurent had never shown much interest in romance before. “You are going to marry Prince Damianos?”

“Who else am I going to marry?”

Auguste was certain that their father would already have a list prepared with potential marriage candidates for when Laurent became of marriageable age, all of whom Auguste was prepared to oppose were Laurent to give the slightest sign of not being interested. He didn’t think Damianos would be on that list. Even if it could strengthen the currently fragile alliance between their countries, Auguste did not think their father would ever consider marrying one of his sons off to an Akielon.

However, Auguste thought he could understand the appeal Laurent saw in the Akielon prince. He was good at horse riding, and his dimpled smile was very handsome. Moreover, Damianos had been kind to Laurent throughout his visit. He listened to him when Laurent told him about his interests and the things he had read in his books. From a young age, Laurent had been aware that most people besides Auguste and their mother only tended to listen to him out of respect for his status as one of the Veretian princes, but Damianos was genuinely interested in what Laurent had to say.

“Does he know you are going to marry him?” Auguste asked.

The expression on Laurent’s face reminded Auguste of the fact that even at 10 years old, Laurent was already twice as smart as Auguste could ever hope to be. “That’s what the courting is for.”

* * *

A couple of minutes before Damen wanted to leave for dinner, someone knocked on the doors of the guest chambers he was staying in.

Only less than an hour ago, someone had knocked on his doors as well. When Damen had opened the door that time, he had been greeted by a servant holding a bouquet of roses. The servant had informed Damen that it was Prince Laurent who had sent them to him. As Damen had accepted them, he had realized that Laurent must have also picked the roses himself for Damen; had Laurent gotten someone else to pick or buy them for him, the bouquet would have been a lot neater, with more evenness in the length of the stems of the flowers. However, the unevenness only made the bouquet look more charming.

When Damen opened his doors this time, he was met by Prince Auguste.

“Damianos,” the other prince said, “I happened to become aware of the fact that my little brother has sent you a bouquet of roses.”

“Yes?” Damen wasn’t sure whether that was the right answer. It was the truth, but the look on Auguste’s face made Damen want to deny the fact.

“In that case,” Auguste said, and Damen could tell that his next words were chosen very carefully, “you will thank him for his gift, but also inform him of the fact that you are not yet ready for marriage. If he absolutely has to try courting you again, you will tell him that he can do so in ten years’ time to see if you are ready then.”

Marriage? Damen had not realized that a bouquet of roses had implied marriage. Certainly not when it had been sent by a ten year old child. Besides, marriage wouldn’t be expected of Damen for years.

“I am not,” he said. However, when Auguste’s glare deepened further, he quickly clarified, “I mean that I’m not ready for marriage yet. Yes, I will make sure to tell Laurent that when I thank him for the roses.”

“Good,” Auguste said before his expression eased into the smile of the hospitable crown prince Damen had grown used to throughout the rest of his visit to Vere. “With that settled, please, allow me to accompany you to dinner.”

* * *

Damen had only just settled into his chambers, the same ones he had occupied on all his previous visits to Vere, when there was a knock on his doors.

Damen opened the doors and was met by a servant holding a bouquet of roses. Damen signalled for him to speak. “Exalted,” the servant started, “Prince Laurent sends these to you. He also hopes you are settling in well, and wished to know whether you would be interested in going riding with him this afternoon.”

Damen looked at the servant and the roses. He was reminded of when Laurent had sent him a bouquet of roses the first time he had visited Vere. This bouquet looked different from the previous one though; it was much neater and the flowers were only just starting to come into bloom, ensuring Damen would be able to enjoy them for quite a while.

All these years later, Damen’s relationship with Laurent was different as well.

Damen had liked the little prince the moment he had met him. Unsurprisingly, Laurent had been wary of Damen at first when Auguste had introduced them to each other; due to the hostility that had existed between their countries for so long, Laurent had surely been taught rather unflattering things about Akielons. However, curiosity had also shone brightly in his eyes. The boy had obviously wanted to find out for himself whether Damen was actually as scary others had implied.

“Is he your friend?” Laurent had asked Auguste, whose answer had been ‘yes’. It had been a simplification of what their actual relationship had been at the time: two crown princes of former enemy nations, who were both hoping for peace between their respective countries, and who were learning from each other that the people they had once considered their enemies may be far from resembling the prejudiced image they had been taught as children. From that position, the tentative beginnings of friendship had only just been starting to grow between them. In any case, the simplified answer had eased away the majority of Laurent’s wariness and allowed his curiosity to fully bloom.

From that moment on Laurent had enthusiastically started telling Damen about all the—by then still limited—stories he had read about Akielos and demanded to know whether they were true. Damen happily confirmed the parts that were true, corrected the parts Laurent’s books had gotten wrong, and explained how their were different versions of certain stories in different regions of Akielos. At Laurent’s request, Damen also related even more stories to him that he hadn’t heard of before.

From telling stories to each other during Damen’s first visit to Vere, their relationship had grown over the years. It had started with Laurent’s childhood crush on Damen and his attempt to court him, which Damen had gently tried to dissuade the boy from after Auguste had explained what exactly a bouquet of roses meant in Vere, and developed into one of the most important friendships Damen had.

During his subsequent visits to Vere every other year, the majority of Damen’s free time was always spent with either one or both of the two Veretian princes, and in between his visits he exchanged letters with both of them, with the ones he sent to and received from Laurent steadily becoming longer and longer as the years progressed.

When Damen had arrived in Vere two years ago for his previous visit, he had been taken by surprise when he had not been greeted by a boy, but by a young man. A very handsome young man.

Damen had only noticed the subtle change that had happened in their relationship when he had ended up almost kissing Laurent a few weeks into his visit. Thankfully, he had been able stop himself from actually doing so. He had realized that they likely wouldn’t have been able to stop themselves from taking it further—both physically and romantically—if they did end up kissing, and Damen had been certain in that moment that that wasn’t something they should do.

Damen’s relationship with Jokaste had been starting to get more serious, and he had been thinking about the advice his father had given him, that Damen might consider whether he thought Jokaste would make a suitable wife, with the implication that Theomedes certainly did (though his opinion on her had since changed and then changed again).

In that situation Damen hadn’t been able to give Laurent what he deserved. Laurent deserved someone who could place him at the centre of their life and devote all of their love to him, not someone who could only take him as a lover on the side.

Right now, as Damen was looking at the second bouquet of roses Laurent had sent him, he was in a different situation, however. Jokaste had left him and married Kastor instead. In the last year, Damen’s resentment towards them had faded, and he was able to feel genuinely happy for them, especially when he thought about his baby nephew who was probably crawling around the palace of Ios right now.

In the last year, Damen had also, in between reading letters sent by Laurent and writing his own in return, become much more familiar with Veretian courtship rituals. He now knew what a bouquet of roses meant in Vere. He also knew what the proper response to receiving one was, depending on whether he wanted to accept or reject the offer.

So, Damen accepted the bouquet from the servant. He separated one rose from the others and gave the single flower back to the servant. “Please deliver this one back to Prince Laurent, and inform him that I would gladly accept his offer.”

* * *

Suspicion grew in Auguste’s chest when he saw Laurent walking surely through the halls that led to the royal bedchambers, pulling a grinning Damen along with him.

“What are you doing with Damianos, Laurent?” Auguste interrupted them.

Laurent halted, but he kept Damen’s arm firmly in his grip. “It has been ten years, Auguste,” he said, “so I have courted Damen again. Since he has accepted my suit this time, I am now taking him into my bed.”

“Then, I take it you are going to marry him as well?”

The smile that blossomed on Laurent’s face softened Auguste’s heart. The happiness on his little brother’s face was enough for Auguste to decide that they would have his blessing no matter what Laurent’s answer would be. “Who else am I going to marry?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'd love to know what you think <3


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